Lovanium University (french: Université Lovanium) was a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
Jesuit university in
Kinshasa in the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
. The university was established in 1954 on the
Kimwenza
Kimwenza is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Mont Ngafula commune in the south of the capital, Kinshasa.
Location
Kimwenza is on a plateau above the main city of Kinshasa.
It is near to the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya. ...
plateau, near
Kinshasa. The university continued to function after independence until it was merged into the
National University of Zaire in 1971. It can be considered an antecedent of the
University of Kinshasa
The University of Kinshasa (french: Université de Kinshasa), commonly known as UNIKIN, is one of the three major universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, together with the University of Kisangani and University of Lubumbashi. Origi ...
.
Early history
Before the foundation of Lovanium, the
Catholic University of Louvain already operated multiple institutes for higher education in the
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964.
Colo ...
. The ''Fomulac'' (Fondation médicale de l'université de Louvain au Congo), was founded in 1926, with the goal of forming Congolese medical personnel and researchers specialized in tropical medicine. In 1932 the Catholic University of Louvain founded the ''Cadulac'' (Centres agronomiques de l'université de Louvain au Congo) in
Kisantu
Kisantu, is a town in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, lying south west of Kinshasa, on the Inkisi River. It is known for its large cathedral and for its botanical gardens, which include an arboretum of indigenous trees.
Location
Kis ...
. Cadulac was specialized in agricultural sciences and formed the basis for what was later to become Lovanium.
Lovanium
The university was established in 1954 on the
Kimwenza
Kimwenza is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Mont Ngafula commune in the south of the capital, Kinshasa.
Location
Kimwenza is on a plateau above the main city of Kinshasa.
It is near to the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya. ...
plateau, near Leopoldville (now
Kinshasa).
Lovanium was founded by the
Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, and was named after it (''Lovanium'' being
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
for Leuven).
When it opened, the university received heavy subsidies from the colonial government, it also received funding from the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the dea ...
, the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Ca ...
and the
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible f ...
and was lauded as the best university in Africa.
[
] The official opening of the university was in 1954, the first students were to graduate from Lovanium in 1958.
Africa's first nuclear reactor,
TRIGA I, was established at Lovanium in 1958, in conjunction with the U.S.
Atoms for Peace
"Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953.
The United States then launched an "Atoms for Peace" program that supplied equipmen ...
program.
In August 1971, the university merged with two other universities in the Congo to form the federalised
National University of Zaire (Université Nationale du Zaïre, UNAZA). Between 1980 and 1991, the universities were again divided into three institutions, the
University of Kinshasa
The University of Kinshasa (french: Université de Kinshasa), commonly known as UNIKIN, is one of the three major universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, together with the University of Kisangani and University of Lubumbashi. Origi ...
,
Kisangani University, and the
University of Lubumbashi
The University of Lubumbashi (), also known by the acronym UNILU, is one of the largest universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in Lubumbashi in Haut Katanga Province, previously Katanga Province. The campus is locate ...
.
Notable alumni
*
Valentin Y. Mudimbe
Valentin-Yves Mudimbe (born 8 December 1941, Jadotville, Belgian Congo) is a Congolese philosopher, professor, and author of poems, novels, as well as books and articles on African culture and intellectual history. Mudimbe is Ruth F. DeVarney Prof ...
*
Clémentine Nzuji
*
Étienne Tshisekedi
Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (14 December 1932 – 1 February 2017) was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC ...
*
Simon Mbatshi Batshia
*
Pius Ngandu Nkashama
Pius Ngandu Nkashama is a professor, writer, playwright, poet and literary critic. He was born in 1946 in Mbujimayi in the province of Kasai Oriental in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
After a degree in philosophy and letters at Lovanium ...
*
Albert Ndele
Albert Ndele Bamu (born 15 August 1930) is a Congolese politician and banker. He served as chairman of the College of Commissioners-General that governed the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) for two weeks while Justin Marie Bomboko
Justin ...
*
Barthélémy Bisengimana Barthélémy Bisengimana Rwema (born 12 May 1935) was a Zairean official who served as head of the Bureau of the President under Mobutu Sese Seko from May 1969 to February 1977.Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, in ''States, Borders and Citizenship: Negot ...
*
Jacques Depelchin
Jacques Depelchin (born 06/03/1942) is a Congolese historian and militant. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Ota Benga International Alliance for Peace in the DR Congo.
Background
A native of the Congo, Depelchin was educated int ...
*
Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum
Jean-Jacques Muyembe is a Congolese microbiologist. He is the general director of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (''INRB''). He was part of team at the Yambuku Catholic Mission Hospital tha ...
*
Nkulu Mitumba Kilombo
Norbert Nkulu Mitumba Kilombo (born 15 December 1946) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In the first cabinet of Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga, formed on 5 February 2007, he was named Minister of State to the President of ...
*
Angela Okolo
Angela Okolo is a Nigerian professor of pediatrics and child health, neonatologist in the department of Pediatrics, Federal Medical Center, Asaba and President of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine (NISONM).
Early life and education
Sh ...
Notable faculty
*
Marcel Lihau
Marcel Antoine Lihau or Ebua Libana la Molengo Lihau (29 September 1931 – 9April 1999) was a Congolese jurist, law professor and politician who served as the inaugural First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo from 1968 un ...
*
Sophie Kanza
Sophie Lihau-Kanza or Zala Lusibu N'Kanza (8 February 1940 – 2 April 1999) was a Congolese politician and sociologist. She was the first woman of her country to receive a secondary education, the first to graduate from a university, and the firs ...
*
Daniel Biebuyck
Daniel P. Biebuyck (1925 – 31 December 2019) was a Belgian scholar of Central African art.
Biography
Biebuyck was born in 1925 in Deinze, Belgium. He studied classical philology, law, cultural anthropology, and African art at the State U ...
See also
*
List of Jesuit sites
This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association.
Nearly all these sites have bee ...
References
External links
The New Yorker 1962 article
Education in Kinshasa
Former Catholic universities and colleges
History of Kinshasa
Educational institutions disestablished in 1971
Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1954 establishments in the Belgian Congo
1971 disestablishments in Africa
Ž
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